Improvement in shoes



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

STILLMAN A. WEST, OF FAYVILLE, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT IN SHOES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 155,909, dated October 13, 1874; application filed July 2, 1874.

To alt whom t may concern."

Be it known that I, STILLMAN A. WEs'r, of Fayville, in the county of Worcester and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Shoes; and do hereby declare the same to be fully described in the following specification,and represented in the accompanying drawings, of which- Figure l is a perspective view ot' a shoe provided with my invention. Fig. 2 is a longitndinal section, and Fig. 3 a transverse section of it.

The invention is to prevent the leg of the trowsers of the wearer ot' the shoe from catching upon the top of the heel of the upper; and it consists in the combination of a selfadjusting guard with the shoe, it being substantially as and arranged and applied as hereinafter explained.

In the drawings, A denotes the shoe, and B the adjustable guard. Such guard I usuallyr make of a piece of leather, shaped as shown in Fig. 4,'and lined with a lining of leather or cloth. At the middle of its lower edge it is to be firmly fastened to the upper edge of the heel of the upper of the shoe, which may be accomplished by a strap, a., stitched to both. At or near each of its lower corners the guard is to have lixed to it one end of one of two springs or elastic bands, b b, fastened at their lower ends to the shoe, and arranged to extend down between its lining and the outer leather, all being as shown. The springs or elastic bands serve by their contractile power to draw the guard closely up to the stocking,wh ere eXtendin g across the heel tendon, and thus enable the guard, by extending up into the leg ot the trowsers, to prevent it from catching on the upper edge of the heel of the shoe.

Preparatory to put-ting the shoe upon the foot, the guard may be turned down against the back of the heel, and after the shoe may have been drawn upon the foot, the guard may be turned up. Its elasticity will then draw it into close contact with the leg, and keep it so, while the wearer may be at rest or walking.

I am aware that shoes have had the heels of their uppers extended upward above the quarters, and therefore I do not claim such.

What I claim is- The shoe A, provided with the guard B, made adjustable by the elastics b b, arranged and applied substantially as specitied.

STILLMAN A. WEST.

Witnesses:

R. H. EDDY, J. R. SNOW. 

